Boys & Girls: Nike Junior International, Liverpool, Hard - Grade 5 (Week 46)

tharris · Intermediate Club Player

RE: Boys & Girls: Nike Junior International, Liverpool, Hard - Grade 5 (Week 46)

paulisi · Tennis legend

Emma won 6-1 6-4( I wasn't there)
Somewhat of a suprise, but Emma seems to have the play, fight and desire to push right to the top if she wishes. With a bit of a growth spout and some more power anything is possible.
Don't forget we still have Indianna and Holly to come into this level and there are rumours of more talented players ready to break through.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Some nice posts and pictures on Northern Vision and Liverpool TC twitter and other social media accounts from the week.

-- Edited by paulisi on Saturday 21st of November 2015 11:23:34 AM

paulisi · Tennis legend

Further congratulations go to Aidan McHugh who wins the singles title in a tight 3 setter

DavidC · Tennis legend

Quite remarkable from Emma given that at 13 years and 8 days this was the first ITF tournament she could have entered - a good chance then that she is the youngest ever winner of an ITF under current rules. Consecutive tournament wins for Aidan.

Boys F

Aidan McHugh d. Damian Rodriguez 7-6(2) 3-6 6-4

Girls F

(WC) Emma Raducanu d. (1) Lauryn John-Baptiste 6-1 6-4

steven · Tennis legend

Given that it looks like you can't play ITFs until you're 13 (you can enter via IPIN at 12 years 11 months) and Emma had her 13th birthday only 8 days ago, there must surely be a very good chance that she's the youngest-ever winner of an ITF singles title!

Edit: I see David beat me to that thought smile - and yes, I don't know if the minimum age used to be lower.

Edit again: it must have been lower in the past - Martina Hingis won a junior slam aged 12.

-- Edited by steven on Saturday 21st of November 2015 01:20:27 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Emma is making the news in Romania today - her father is Romanian (hence the surname) and her grandmother still lives there.

romaniatenis.ro/tag/raducanu/

paulisi · Tennis legend

Emma trains at Bromley Academy - which I guess is fairly new in terms of LTA accredition. Her Dad was with her at the start of the week with a coach, but just her mum yesterday, which suggests she isn't fully funded yet.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Congrats to young Emma, that's quite something :D

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Emma trains at Bromley Academy - which I guess is fairly new in terms of LTA accredition. Her Dad was with her at the start of the week with a coach, but just her mum yesterday, which suggests she isn't fully funded yet.

"Starting tennis at aged four, she trains with the national coach for seventeen hours a week, with eight hours of strength to enhance her game"

If the LTA are paying for one-on-one training of 17 hours a week (+ 8 hours of fitness ? or including the 8 hours of fitness?), I'd count that as fully funded.

Of course, she might have the 'national coach' for 17 hours and be paying some of it herself or via some other means.

I'm not that surprised she beat Lauryn though coz, as said, Lauryn can be very up and down, or gets into 'rushing the net' mode, for instance, and refuses to budge even when it's palpably not working....

Brilliant week, Emma, and bet Granny is proud too !

paulisi · Tennis legend

I wasn't aware of that information.

eldanielfire · Improver

Such an awesome result for Emma.

Spectator · All-time great

Impressive.

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

Fantastic result.

(Also Hingis won a jnr slam at 12? Damn!!)

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

What a week for Emma.

We do seem have quite a few promising 12-14 year olds. Time will tell if they will break all the way through. The future looks bright.